New Defender News

DieselRanger

Well-known member
Lucky 8 has listed their rock sliders, but they are not in stock yet. 1800 bucks!

They were $1588 for the D5....
 

A.J.M

Explorer
What the sliders need is step inserts.

Prospeed make them for the D3/4 and I’ve a set on my D3. They are superb as they have all the benefit of a rock slider for off roading, but the convenience of a side step.

That’s what they need.
 

gatorgrizz27

Well-known member
For anyone still doubting the benefits of the IFS/IRS with EAS, I have a story from yesterday. My LR3 has a very similar suspension setup to the new Defender, and 32” BFG KO2’s, no HD package/rear locker. I was running 1” additional height via the GAP tool, which I upload at the trailhead. I also have significant experience driving off-road.

I was running trails in the National Forest here with my 2 1/2 year old son, I’m always extremely cautious when I take him out, only going places where I’ve been before and marked safe. We came to a particular water crossing that’s basically just a depression on the trail that’s about 6-10” deep with a hard sand bottom.

I’ve been through it multiple times, and though I generally skirt the outside edges of water holes since the middle portions can get rutted out, this one had a bunch of jagged roots sticking out from the side. I went into it towards the center with the appropriate momentum, and it quickly dropped off above the top of the front bumper and bottoms of the doors. I applied more throttle steadily and lightly worked the steering wheel, waiting for the front end to start climbing up the other side.

Instead, forward progress stopped almost completely and the tires were free spinning. I looked down and saw the air suspension height adjuster light flashing, indicating it was high centered. I stopped and had visions of crawling around in the brown water feeling for the valve stems to air down, digging the edges of the ruts with my hobbit shovel, and trying to jam my recovery boards under the tires blindly.

Thankfully, after hitting the switch to raise it into off-road height, shifting to reverse, and slowly applying throttle, I was able to back out of the ruts and hole with almost no wheel spin. There was actually slick clay underneath the sand as well. Here’s a pic of the water line on the rear fender arch showing the depth we were bogged.

9EAD7517-3CA1-4EC5-AAD3-B9D8E7FC0ECC.jpeg

On the way out, we passed a Silverado with what looked to be about a 6” lift and 35’s stuck in another hole in the middle of the road. I had a strap, shackles, and receiver shackle with me, but there was nobody around the vehicle, and we didn’t see anyone walking on the way out.

Later that day I saw a sweet D90 in the grocery store parking lot, sitting on 32” Goodyear M/T’s. Interestingly enough, I’m fairly confident that if he had driven into that same hole we did, he’d have been high centered as well , but with no way to alleviate it and free himself to back out, especially with diffs hanging down in right in the middle. I previously had a Disco 1 on 32” BFG KM2’s, so I’m fairly familiar with the capabilities of the platform.

F083F823-5331-48A7-9F00-971EF28D53FF.jpeg

So moral of the story, the new Defender is likely significantly more capable off road than the old Defender, despite some things I and others don’t like about it.

Oh yeah, I also need to make it more of a priority to get the Warn winch I have sitting in the box at my shop mounted.
 
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DieselRanger

Well-known member
What the sliders need is step inserts.

Prospeed make them for the D3/4 and I’ve a set on my D3. They are superb as they have all the benefit of a rock slider for off roading, but the convenience of a side step.

That’s what they need.
The tree bar is a step, and on the D5 at least when the door is open there's a ton of room to get your whole foot on there. But they do get slippery when wet or muddy, so I could see some perforated diamond plate inserts to make them slip-proof, maybe made out of heavy duty ABS plastic to keep the weight down.
 

A.J.M

Explorer
The tree bar is a step, and on the D5 at least when the door is open there's a ton of room to get your whole foot on there. But they do get slippery when wet or muddy, so I could see some perforated diamond plate inserts to make them slip-proof, maybe made out of heavy duty ABS plastic to keep the weight down.
A778693D-CE4C-47F1-AEC4-8D47E41CEE31.jpeg
This is what is needed.

ive had Terrafirma sliders on before.
Weren’t wide enough and were slippery when wet.

no issues with this set up, makes everything else rubbish imho.

if lucky8 aren’t going for something similar then they are missing a truck as Prospeed will.
 

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